Spurs guard Manu Ginobili goes up for a layup in front of Heat center Chris Bosh during Game 5 of the NBA Finals. / Derick E. Hingle, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

SAN ANTONIO â?? Something had changed about the Manu Ginobili supporters in this town.

The tattooed, middle-aged guy at the bar with the No. 20 jersey spoke about the fallen San Antonio Spurs star as if he was an uncle on life support. His countrymen from Argentina were so concerned, so unaccustomed to seeing him play like this, that they brought a banner to Game 5 of the NBA Finals just to remind him of their support: "We Ginobilieve," it read.

The love wasn't waning, but the faith most certainly was.

Until Sunday night.

After a surprise start from Spurs coach Gregg Popovich that will go down as the latest stroke of genius in his celebrated coaching career, Ginobili had 24 points and 10 assists in San Antonio's 114-104 win vs. the Miami Heat.

"I didn't expect it; I've been a backup for 80-90 games," Ginobili said about starting. "The way they were playing small, I wanted to play more minutes and (Popovich) told me yesterday I'd start."

Leading the series 3-2, the Spurs head back to Miami for Game 6 on Tuesday with a chance to win the organization's fifth championship. Since the league went to a 2-3-2 Finals format in 1985, and the series has been tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner has won the series seven of 10 times.

One day before Ginobili's vintage performance, he admitted that there was a remote chance he would retire after this season when he becomes a free agent. Yet with his play stellar from beginning to end Sunday and the Heat unsure how to handle this new look, the Spurs found themselves dominating. Ginobili is the first player to start an NBA Finals game after not starting in the regular season since Marcus Camby for the New York Knicks in 1999.

"I just had a good game," Ginobili said. "Playing with Tony (Parker) in the first few minutes helped me," Ginobili said. "I tried to be aggressive. I haven't been making shots lately, but I've been passing well. Today, I was just able to get it going."

The Spurs shot 60% from the field, with Tim Duncan adding 17 points and 12 rebounds. Guard Danny Green scored 24 points, hitting six of 10 from long range to set a Finals record for three-pointers. Heat shooting guard Ray Allen had set the record of 22 in the 2008 Finals with the Boston Celtics. Green has hit 25 of 38 three-pointers in the series.

"(Danny) has been great, and I can't believe he is still open at this point in the series," Parker said.

Said Heat guard Dwyane Wade: "Give (Green) credit, he's making some helluva shots. Not many guys have shot the ball this well in the Finals that I can remember. We have to do a better job like in Game 4 of knowing where the shooters are."

Parker showed no ill effects of the hamstring strain that ails him, scoring 26 points. The Heat were held to 43% shooting, with LeBron James unable to continue the powerful play he had shown in Game 4, as he hit eight of 22 shots for 25 points.

"I have to come up big for sure in Game 6," James said. "We have to all play at a high level if we're going to keep this series going."

Wade had another good game with 25 points and 10 assists. Allen scored 21 off the bench.

"Their starters played big tonight," Wade said. "Every time we made a run they answered."

Ginobili was the answer that no one saw coming.

This season-long stretch of erratic play had made it seem as if the Ginobili of old had been replaced by old man Ginobili, and the doubt that surrounded him was entirely warranted considering the depth of his struggles. He had scored 20-plus points just six times during the entire regular season, and just once in the playoffs.

And while his game is about so much more than that, the electric playmaking that he has so long been known for was nowhere to be found either. Afterward, Parker couldn't help but take a jab at reporters who had deemed his game dead.

"I told you Manu was going to play good," he said before any questions were asked. "You didn't believe me."

Parker and his Spurs teammates, he made clear, were not among those who had started to question him.

"You know, everybody was behind him," Parker said. "I defended him the whole time. I was feeling a big game for Manu. I've been playing with him for a long time. I said this morning it's a great opportunity for Manu. I was happy when Pop put him in the starting five, because you can get a rhythm.

"And the fact that they're playing defense so high on me and Timmy, I felt that Manu would be easier to gain for him. Because every time he comes off the bench and the whole focus, they play defense on him because I'm out and Timmy is out. So when he's playing with us and they're still going to trap me and still going to pay attention to Timmy, Manu is going to get opportunities. And tonight he was great."

Ginobili hadn't started since the 2012 Western Conference Finals, when Popovich pulled the same ploy for the final two games of a six-game series loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a desperate move in a desperate time for a coach who had admitted his concern about Ginobili coming in.

He entered averaging 10.6 points per game while shooting just 37.7% overall and 29.8% from three-point range (3 of 16). His production was down in every other key category as well, this after what was one of the most pedestrian regular seasons of his storied career. Popovich told his team that Ginobili would be in the starting lineup before practice on Saturday, though their secret was kept quiet until tipoff.

The move worked from the start, as the Spurs led 32-19 after a first quarter in which their swarming defense and new-look offense were dominant. Ginobili waited all of 19 seconds before making the sort of impact that has been missing for most of the postseason, and put the Heat on their heels in the process.

He hit a shot from the left wing that was originally ruled a three-pointer but later deemed a two. He found Danny Green for a layup on the next possession, then Duncan for a dunk the next time down.

"They just absolutely outplayed us," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "At times they were just picking one guy out at a time and going at us mano-a-mano. That's got to change."

Ginobili hit two free throws after an aggressive drive and foul, then finessed a tight pocket pass through two defenders to find Duncan for a floater that put the Spurs up 10-6. In the span of 130 seconds, Ginobili had put his fingerprints on more plays than the first four games combined.

Parker took the lead from there, turning a 17-17 tie into the 13-point edge entering the second quarter by showing yet again that his ailing hamstring wasn't hampering him. He slithered past Norris Cole for a scoop shot, hit two free throws after a drive and foul, then backed him down in the post for another bucket.

And with Green continuing his unreal run of three-point shooting by hitting three of four in the first half, it seemed San Antonio would control the action all night long.

But thanks to a familiar foe for the Spurs, the Heat would respond to the 19-5 San Antonio run that had put them in a 36-22 hole. After a Wade putback and a Bosh tip started what would become a 20-11 run of their own, a Bosh block on Duncan triggered a fastbreak â?? from Wade to a leaping James for the dunk â?? that turned the early tide.

James (16 first-half points) was officially revived after his quiet start, blowing by Duncan on the baseline for a reverse layup, burying a stepback jumper over Kawhi Leonard from the left side, then punishing Green in the post for a layup that brought Miami within five (51-46).

Parker, however, would have the final say of the first half. His floater over Shane Battier and a blow-by of Norris Cole and layup with 0.4 seconds left put the Spurs up 61-52 at the break. In all, the Spurs had shot a scorching 61.8% from the field (21 of 34) while the Heat had been held to 42.2% shooting (19 of 45).

Yet every time the Heat had an answer, the Spurs â?? as had been the case for nearly two decades â?? had Ginobili. After the Heat cut the lead to 75-74 in the third quarter, he scored six points in the final 2:21 of the period to carry a 12-1 run and put San Antonio up 87-75 entering the fourth. A runner on the right side, another beauty over Cole on the left, a pass to a slashing Tiago Splitter for a dunk and a hard-driving runner on the right over Cole and a closing Udonis Haslem with 0.4 seconds left that sparked the latest chants of "Manu, Manu" from the crowd that had missed him like a long lost relative.

He was back, their beloved Ginobili. And so was the faith.

"You know, we all are very popular (among fans)," Ginobili said. "In Argentina there's a lot of people following and your family and friends and everybody, they think great of you and they expect great things. And sometimes that affects you a little bit.

"But we talk in the team and we - that's what I care the most about, what Pop thinks and what Pop tells me what to do and what Duncan) and Tony expects from me and other teammates. That's the main concern now."